Barbarian/Artificer Artillerist

[elyktsorb]

So my primary thought is that it would be very cool to be a barbarian, up in the front lines, surrounded by enemies, and after you've hit them with your big stick, you just blast them with a flamethrower as your bonus action. As far as I can tell, being in rage doesn't stop you from using any of the canon forms.

Aside from the obvious issue of needing intelligence, I can't think of anything overtly bad about this combo. Anyone have any thoughts?

[stoutstien]

It's *ok*.

Other than the general MaDness it is also very bonus action hungry and doesn't offer much, or any, more mitigation than just straight artificer.

Artillerist are solid Frontline material already so if you want to swing a big weapon it would be a little harder but not impossible. You could rely on infusions to off set your lower str until you get gauntlets at lv 10 or seek out ways to use int with weapons such as the all purpose tool.

[Amnestic]

or seek out ways to use int with weapons such as the all purpose tool.

Could you elaborate on this? I'm not seeing how APT works as a weapon or uses int instead of str/dex, but I might be missing something.

[stoutstien]

Could you elaborate on this? I'm not seeing how APT works as a weapon or uses int instead of str/dex, but I might be missing something.

Since you can put any cantrip in there you can use shillelagh.

[Amnestic]

Since you can put any cantrip in there you can use shillelagh.

Quietly wishing for the ability to just do a quick upvote but yeah, that possibility had completely passed me by.

[stoutstien]

Quietly wishing for the ability to just do a quick upvote but yeah, that possibility had completely passed me by.

It's more cute than anything. Your bog standard artillery is probably going to have at least 14 dexterity to begin with and if you slap on infusion on there you will emulate having a 16 which is perfectly serviceable with how few attacks you're actually going to be making. You could go like the booming blade route and pump up your attack but You are still are going to be using your haunting pipes, dropping webs, and deploying your cannons more often.

If I was going to make a artillerist melee PC I'd go ahead and invest in the strength properly. That way I don't have to use precious infusion slots catching up and then I can use stuff like the armor that makes me amazing at grappling or more mitigation with a ring of protection.

**IMO the best use of that floating cantrip is to leave it empty until you *need* one rather than trying to build around it. Between magic tinkering and ritual casting artificer cover's some ground but the ability to have the perfect cantrip for the situation is clutch and on brand for the class.**

[Skrum]

I feel like barb has to be your main class and you're dipping artificer 3 for eldritch cannon? Rage turns off a large chunk of artificer's abilities, so that's kinda rough.

Or are you thinking barb 1 artificer X? If you're primarily going to be raging, having more than 2 uses of rage is probably necessary. Barb is a tough multiclass in that regard; rage shoehorns you into using rage, since it's incompatible with a lot of what other classes want to do.

Artillerist doesn't get extra attack either, so if you don't go barb 5, you're kinda defeating the purpose of getting the cannon (moar attacks!)

I think I would go barb 1/artificer 3/barb +4. It won't get all of the abilities it needs until 8, but 1 attack + cannon is solid enough to hold you over. Could go beast barb for ALL the attacks - you'd have 2 attacks at level 4, 3 attacks at level 6, and 4 attacks at level 8. That's a pretty cool progression! Plus beast barb only needs one claw free, meaning you can hold the cannon in your other hand (or use a shield, but that's boring).

[elyktsorb]

I think I would go barb 1/artificer 3/barb +4.

I'm kind of a big dingus who likes to level stuff more evenly so it would be 1/1 and such for a bit, but the main plan was to do artificer 3 for the canon, maybe 4 for the ASI. Then just go barb the rest of the way.

Wild Magic Barbarian could be pretty fun thematically, this absolute madman having magical stuff happen, he hits you with a big stick, then shoots you with his cobbled together force shooter. Too bad most of these effects are kind of meh, or eat up the bonus action.

Ancestral Guardian might not be bad since you could be spitting out temp hp every round to further protect your allies.

I don't really see anything that really screams 'this'll work better than the other subclasses' Other than Berserker taking your bonus action so it actively defeats the purpose.

And Battlerager also gives you a bonus action attack, though the canon would possibly be a better one, and the idea of grappling someone and then holding them there as you use your bonus action to shoot them feels like it would be amazing to do in a game.

Beast seems like a solid choice, though it doesn't tickle me as much in terms of flavor like what I've thought above.

[Skrum]

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Beast seems like a solid choice, though it doesn't tickle me as much in terms of flavor like what I've thought above.

It would take a little squinting in terms of the rest of the character's abilities, but a savage beast barb who "found" this cannon that he now carries around would be pretty great. Doesn't know how it works, doesn't know who made it, but he knows it brings the pain.

[Sherlockpwns]

The real question is will your DM allow the cannon to use your PC as a mount, leaving both hands free to smash things? ;)

RAW, I don’t see why not. Very minor impact on balance too.

I’m not sure I personally see the value of Barbarian over fighter or paladin other than theme. If Barbarian was the goal though I’d echo wild magic being fun. This was never going to be peak meta gaming so may as well fully lean into it. Plus restoring your own spell slots is an unusual barbarian.